PlanetCatfish.com

Firstly, apologies for the lengthy post.
Smaller woodcats such as Tatia Intermedia have already been spawned and raised. But what about for instance, Liosomadoras or Trachelyopterus species? - Why have they not bred in captivity yet?
I have 6 Trachelyopterichthys Taniatus (striped woodcats). They are fully grown and in superb condition. They are currently being subjected to a wet season!..... Lots of water changes, frozen live food, raised temperature, stronger current and aeration. However I think more could be done to simulate the wet and dry seasons. I wish I had first-hand experience of South America to get more of 'a feel' for the conditions. I wonder - am I right to raise the temp, or should I reduce it? Should the current be more, or less? Here's a list of some of the questions I have - anyone care to join me in speculating???

I wonder-

1. What do you think are average day/ night water temps during the wet season? And the dry season?

2. In a tank, what frequency of water changes would you do to replicate a dry season? How long would this period last?

3. Do you think the acidity and hardness might vary between wet and dry seasons? What water parameters would you aim for in a tank?

4. In their natural surroundings, what would woodcats be eating during the dry season? And wet season?

5. When water levels rise, do you suspect certain plants that become submersed might affect the behaviour of woodcats? Perhaps they release tannins, toxins, etc.

6. Do you think these catfish would re-locate to different conditions/ surroundings when the seasons change? Perhaps to get out of a fast current, OR get into it?

7. Where in the river and at what depth would you expect to find wood cats?

8. Do you think that chemicals released by other fish species, such as pheromones, might be a factor? If so, what species might you suggest using in tank conditions?

9. What other factors do you think might trigger breeding behaviour?

10.Any further ideas?...


I appreciate that's a lot of questions. They are rattling around in my head, so I thought you all might let them rattle in yours too for a bit

A bit controversial to begin with but Liosomadoras (oncinus) have produced eggs in a tank environment (for me at least) & this is detailed i threads elsewhere & i am told by NHA that years ago they used to buy in baby jags from someone in the UK. Grokefish has witnessed his Morrowi in pre-spawning behaviour so the difficulty seems to be the ability to get repeat performances.

So from personal experience - i had a Jag that was forgotten about in a tank which converted to Tanganyikan conditions (ph circa 8.6). I never saw it until one day i got in from work, turned the lights on & found it relentlessly swimming back & forth along the front glass pursued vigourously by half a dozen multis. The fish was so gravid that on the swelling of the belly, individual egg shapes could be made out (in places)as well as lumps of eggs. The following morning in a corner of the tank was a worn out, dishevelled jag & a bunch of happy looking fat multis behaving completely normally swimming in & out of the rocks.

I removed the jag to a more convential tropical set up where it lived for a number of years until i came back from a weekend away one time to discover the tank was wiped out - the reason being the internal power filter intake was blocked up by eggs (none of the other inhabitants could've been responsible given the number of eggs evident )

Of interest was that the jag in tang conditions exhibited no brown colouration at all - just black patterning on a white/cream background (stunning). The same fish in SA conditions reverted to typical jag colouring.

The only thing i can think of common to both situations was a large (colder) water change 2-3 days prior. In both cases it was a lone female with no male. 1st time tankmates were tang synos, 2nd time Syno contracta.

My thoughts would be dry season = warm water. dry season water changes should be minimal & replacement water equal or hotter temp. Leave water changes for as long as you dare in between, or even stop them. Dry season, little water movement.

Wet season opposite to everything i've just said.

Ok onto feeding - i'd suggest dry protein stuff for the dry season - tablets, massivore pellets a small piece of occasional prawn, but be quite sparing. For the wet season, frozen bloodworm, chopped earthworms, flies, woodlice, spiders, crickets (general terrestrial insects etc)in large quantities plus a bit of flake food.

If you wanted a timescale for these then i'd go for a minimum period of 3 months dry season.

Hope this helps but PM me for mobile if you wanna chat further

As I did not keep woodcats myself, I can only speculate

However, as the woodcats which did breed were the smaller, insectivorous species and the ones that did not breed are the larger, piscivorous ones (I'm generalizing, I know)I would assume feeding does have an influence

Richard wrote above about a situation in which (I put it into my words) a jaguar woodcat turned gravid in a tank with breeding fish. Later he put the fish into another, perhaps without breeding fish

It is quite well known that thr addition of breeding lifebearers triggers spawning for other fishes due to, yes, pheromones

Assuming woodcats can turn gravid rapidly, I would assume the pheromones involved with preparations to spawn from small fishes, such as tetras, saying dinner for tyour fry will be ready, might very well influence the woodcats.

As tetras respont to lifebearers, I'd try it. the problem might be keeping guppies or so together with these fishes, but a large life net might help

A small piece of information from Mike Hardman was that Liosomodoras breed towards the end of dry season, rather than at the beginning of rainy season - this gives the fry a head-start from other breeding fish that breed in rainy season. And, according to Mike, they are definitely "internal fertilization" in the sense that the female can hold sperm in a special cavity next to the oviduct. When the eggs are laid, a bit of sperm is squeezed with each egg.

--
Mats

I know nothing about spawning larger woodcats since I've only spawned C. perugiae. However, since the discussion is now leaning toward their spawning at the end of the dry season, it only seems reasonable to do a search of their habitat info for the dry season. I did a quick search of the catelog listed habitat out of curiosity, and found this at Bioline international

"Study area - Adult mosquitoes were collected over the course of one year in localities along the Padauiri River from Cachoeira da Aliança to its confluence with the Negro River, comprising a total of 124 km (Fig. 1). There are five small settlements in the survey area; all of them are located very close to the forest (on average, 5-50 m from houses): Tapera (area 1: 00°11'41.3"S 64°04'42"W), Acú-Acú (area 2: 00°06'24"S 64°01'45"W), Acuquaia (area 3: 00°13'15"N 63°59'24"W), Ararinha/Ararão (area 4: 00°29'63"N 64°03'30"W) and Nova Jerusalém (area 4: 00°40'37"N 64º10'34"W).

The Padauiri River forms the boundary between the municipalities of Barcelos (East) and Santa Isabel do Rio Negro (West) in the north of the state of Amazonas. The drainage basin encompasses a humid tropical forest situated close to sea level, with a mean annual rainfall greater than 2,600 mL (Maia-Neto 1998). The climate is characterised by two seasons: a wet season (April-September) and a dry season (October-March). Maximum flooding occurs in July and August. The lowest water levels are observed between January-March, when the heat is intense. The Padauiri River flows from north to south and has yellowish, sediment-rich, alkaline water. It is a tributary of the Negro River and, at the site of confluence, its water mixes with black, acidic water of other black rivers. The changes in water characteristics contribute to the different habitats observed in this region, producing wide biological diversity. The Padauiri River is one of the locations of greatest piassaba extraction activity in the Amazon region."

The information that would probably be most important in your research is the months of the wet/dry seasons and the fact that it implicitly states that it is alkaline water.

Ferraris lists a wider range than just the Padauiri river. It lists the Negro and Branco river basins in Brazil as well as the Orinoco basin in Venezeula.

I regularly cross reference other species when trying to find water quality info. It appears that most of the published info regarding other fish from the middle Negro and Padauiri is referencing various Cichla species, mostly commercial guides/outfitters, and the predominant species listed for that range is Cichla nigromaculata per Kullander's review of the genus. I don't have time to continue studying right now, but maybe someone else would like to take over the search where I've left off. I know that the post got out of hand, but hope some useful info can be taken from it.

Larry

Thank you all, so far.

This is all very interesting. Sediment-rich alkaline water.....

And RichardB's earlier comment about the jags bold pattern in a tanganykan tank possibly suggest they like it that way, somewhat. My 3 jags are in soft acidic water, I can see a good pattern but not a strong contrast.

I agree with most of what's said so far, I suspect pheromones, temp and diet are keys.

I know of several accounts of females shedding eggs, but not mating/ spawning activity.

More views?

I think the female lays eggs when she feels it's right, and there need not be a male present at the time - she would have mated earlier. So, I think if there is a male present in the tank, and you get the right conditions for the female to lay eggs, they probaboly will be fertile.

--
Mats

Maybe. It's as much about conditioning the male as it is about conditioning the female. If he aint willing.....

Ever met a male who's not willing ;) - joking aside, sure there is that.

Given that the smaller Auchenipteridae species that we do breed on occassion are also seemingly doing this: the male mates with the female, who lays the eggs later on.

--
Mats